


Post-Battle Blues

by AriadneKurosaki



Series: IchiRuki Month 2020 [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, IchiRuki Month, Not Canon Compliant, post-684
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25757839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneKurosaki/pseuds/AriadneKurosaki
Summary: Being a lieutenant and an acting captain isn't exactly easy. Especially not today.
Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo
Series: IchiRuki Month 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858906
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	Post-Battle Blues

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Day 7, Why are you full of rage? Because you're full of grief.
> 
> This is post-684 but ignores 685 and 686.

It isn’t until the dust clears and the last hollow has dissipated that Rukia realizes how many bodies there are. She is panting and there is blood spilling into her eyes from a slash near her left temple – she thinks it’s shallow, but head wounds always bleed like a bitch. There is pain in her side as well, and when she puts her hand against her ribcage, just below her right breast, it comes away wet with blood.

Ichigo is not far from her and he is still upright, although he looks like he went a few rounds with Captain Zaraki. His orange hair is stained red with blood, and the fabric of his left sleeve is cut open, revealing a long cut from shoulder to wrist that’s bleeding sluggishly. His eyes scan the battlefield for other enemies once more before he drops out of bankai and sheathes his larger blade. He keeps the knife out, apparently just in case.

Their steps take them toward one another and Rukia sheathes Sode no Shirayuki after sealing her.

“You okay, Rukia?” he asks, and gently pushes away the hair that is hiding the cut on her face. “We need…” Ichigo looks around. “I’ll summon Squad Four. You see who can be stabilized with kido.” He doesn’t say _please_ even though she outranks him but Rukia does it anyway. Their hands brush against one another before she steps away, checking the first prone Shinigami for signs of life while Ichigo summons a hell butterfly.

Sentarō is on the other side of the clearing where their battle had been fought, and like her he is looking for survivors. The first body she turns over is a member of her squad who is beyond help; a man whose name she barely remembers. She closes his eyes with one hand and places his zanpakutō on his chest, then moves on.

The next one is the squad’s tenth seat, and she is down but not dead; Rukia focuses healing kidō into the deep slash in her abdomen to begin healing organs and tissue. Ichigo moves past her and his hand squeezes her shoulder. She can see that he has found another Shinigami who has died by the way his whole body slumps forward. Rukia tears her sleeve off to use as bandaging and then moves on, to the next wounded member of her squad.

Help arrives from Squad Four when Rukia is using kidō on a third squad member, this time an unseated member of Squad Thirteen who would be fine save for her shattered leg. Rukia leaves her to a pair of Squad Four healers who are quickly setting up a stretcher and using more kidō.

The wounded are taken. Rukia is left with Ichigo, Sentarō, and the other two members of the patrol who are still ambulatory.

Ichigo frowns at her, but when her eyebrow quirks up in question he just tears a strip from his good sleeve and lightly bandages the cut above her eye. “What now, Rukia?” he asks when he’s finished.

There are three bodies lying in the long, bloodied grass. “Now, we go home,” Rukia says quietly. “All of us.”

“Alright.” His voice is just as quiet. He picks up the body of the squad’s sixth seat and drapes him over one shoulder, using one hand to keep the body secure. Ichigo’s other hand carries the man’s zanpakutō, which Rukia can see is starting to deteriorate.

Sentarō nods solemnly to the squad’s fifteenth seat – Sakurai, Rukia reminds herself – and together they lift the second body.

She and the still-standing unseated squad member, Fuwari, take the third, the squad’s twentieth seat.

They return to the Seireitei in silence, and then to the grounds of Squad Thirteen. Ichigo is looking at her, but Rukia merely says, “Follow me.”

Sentarō, Sakurai, and Fuwari murmur, “Yes, _fukutaicho_.” Ichigo just adjusts his grip on the body he carries.

She leads them to a small building in a corner of the barracks. An old-looking woman wearing modified shihakusho – the sleeves are tight around her arms and they end at her elbows – and a white head covering bows them inside. At Rukia’s instruction, they lay the three bodies on a long, wide wooden table.

“The Shirusuban will come to clean and dress them,” she explains when Ichigo looks at her with questions in his eyes, “and there will be a wake in the morning. Then tomorrow night there will be a ceremony for any members of the squad who wish to attend.”

“And then?”

The old woman says calmly, “Like in the World of the Living, we burn our dead.” She bows to Rukia. “We will take care of them now, Kuchiki _fukutaicho._ ”

Rukia bows in return and her subordinates copy the motion. They leave.

“Rukia,” Ichigo says when the door closes behind him. “We need to get to the relief station.”

She hums her agreement. There will be reports later, from all of them, but for now she knows that Ichigo is right. Sakurai is swaying on his feet and without a word Ichigo drapes the man’s arm over his shoulder for support. He looks at Rukia again, but she stands straight and leads the way. Ichigo just huffs out a breath.

Sentarō leans on Fuwari as they walk. Fortunately, the relief station is not far.

They are met at the door by Kotetsu _fukutaicho_ , who squeals her disapproval at the state of her former squad mates. “ _Kuchiki-san!_ You should have let my squad members carry you here, you _all_ look awful!” she scolds.

“Shut up, Kiyone, and get us some healers,” Sentarō mumbles. She sticks her tongue out at him in reply, but soon enough Hanatarō has Rukia and Ichigo perched on chairs next to one another.

“Rukia first, Hanatarō,” Ichigo commands. “She’s banged up more than me.”

“Yes, I can see that,” the Third Seat replies, and soon his hands are glowing with kidō as he heals first the slash in Rukia’s side and then the cut above her eye. “You’ll need to take it easy for a few days, Kuchiki-san,” he says when he is done. “But this should help.”

He turns to Ichigo and begins healing the wound on his arm. “I’ll make sure she rests,” Ichigo promises, and smirks when Rukia glares at him.

“I don’t have time to lounge around.”

“There’s a lot of room between _lounging_ and _immediately throwing yourself into combat again_ , midget,” Ichigo chides.

She just grumbles under her breath and glares at him again.

“There,” Hanatarō says as if he hasn’t witnessed their argument. “You’re free to head back to your squad, Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-san. But I really have to insist that you take care not to overexert yourselves in the next week. Particularly you, Kuchiki-san. Head wounds are tricky, even with kidō.”

Rukia sighs but allows Ichigo to help her up, and they both bow to Hanataro. They walk back to the barracks together, and to the building where the Captain’s quarters are. Though Rukia is officially the _fukutaicho_ , she is also acting captain and at _Soutaicho_ Kyōraku’s insistence, she has moved into Ukitake’s former quarters.

Ichigo follows her inside and they both leave their sandals against the wall. Rukia is still, her hand on the hilt of Sode no Shirayuki as she stands in the semidarkness. After a moment, Ichigo lights two of the lamps to bring more light into the room. There is a zanpakutō stand against one wall, large enough for three swords, and he lays both of Zangetsu’s blades in their usual place.

His shihakusho is half-ruined from their battle and Ichigo shucks the top half off, revealing toned biceps and a chiseled chest. “I’m going to bathe,” he says. “You should too.” Absently, he scratches at an old scar along his ribcage.

Rukia moves, finally, to take Sode no Shirayuki from her waist and lay the zanpakutō in the stand. Together the three blades seem to sigh and settle.

She punches a hole in the wall next to them.

“Rukia?” Ichigo asks quietly.

She hates the tone in his voice, like she’s a frightened rabbit instead of a lieutenant and acting captain. “What?” She begins to roughly strip away her own shihakusho, and when the belt won’t come undone, she wrestles with it until the fabric tears apart. Rukia shoves the ruined garment off with a growl, leaving her clad only in the bindings around her chest and a fundoshi.

Ichigo closes the distance between them, and his hands come up to cup her injured hand: there are scrapes along her knuckles and a few of them are bleeding. “Hanatarō told you to take it easy,” he reminds her calmly.

Rukia pulls her hand from his. “ _Three_ of my people died today, Ichigo.” Her hands are shaking, and all she can see are their faces, bloodied and locked in their final expressions of fear and pain. “If I was a better lieutenant, they’d still be alive.” Her eyes are damp, and her throat is so tight she is surprised she can still breathe.

“Come on.” Ichigo tugs at her again, this time with a hand under her elbow, and guides her to their bed. She sits reluctantly.

“This is what being a lieutenant _is_ ,” he says. “And you knew that before Captain Ukitake gave you that badge.”

Rukia scoffs angrily. “Getting my people killed?”

“Fighting with _our_ people to make sure as few of them get killed as possible. There were ten adjuchas. Very few patrol groups could have handled it at all,” Ichigo points out. When she leans her head against his shoulder, Ichigo’s arm slides around her. “It doesn’t help any of us for you to blame yourself. All we can do is train more and fight harder.”

She sighs an agreement, and Ichigo kisses the top of her head. “Shouldn’t I be the one giving you this speech?” Rukia asks, with a wet chuckle.

“Yeah, but for once _I’m_ not the one who damaged our home,” Ichigo retorts. Rukia likes the way he says that, despite what has happened – _our_ home.

“Two months and it’s already _home,_ hm?” she asks.

Ichigo shifts them and kisses her full on the mouth, but it’s tender and even chaste. “Wherever you are is home, you know that, Rukia.”

She sighs into him. “Will you come with me to the wake and the ceremony tomorrow?”

Ichigo kisses her temple. “Of course. I’m co-Third Seat, after all. Now come on, we both need a bath. And I guess there must be some sort of announcement you need to make, right?”

“Are you telling me that I smell?” Rukia asks, and Ichigo just rolls his eyes.

“No, I’m saying that you’ve still got blood all over you, and so do I.” He stands and holds his hand out to her.

Rukia takes it and stands.

**Author's Note:**

> Shirusuban is “Death caretaker”, based on the Japanese Kanji for Shi (death) and Rusuban (caretaker). I apologize if this translation does not work in practice.


End file.
